Forging balls from long bars



-l 636 808 July A. CANDA o 9 FORGING BALLS FROM LONG BARS Filed May 12,1924 3'Sheets-Sheet 1 2 192 July 6 7 A.- CANDA FORGING BALLS FROM LONGBARS Filed May 12. 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 2' idbeel Gaflcla A. CANDA July.1927.

Abel C ahda Patented July 26, 1927.

ABEEL CANDA, OF CRANFORD, NEW JERSEY.

FOBGING BALLS FROM LONG BARS.

Application filed May 12;

My invention relates to a method of forging balls from long bars or rodsand to apparatus for carrying out this method.

In forging balls from long bars, the finished balls are necessarily ofgreater diameter than the bars and consequently the metal must flow fromthe ends of the ball element toward the center and must be subjected tothe proper pressures during the shaping process in order to preventflaws in formed in substantiallv circular grooves extending around thecircumference of a cylindrical drum, the grooves must have the sameuniform contour throughout their ex tent, the shaping of the balls beingeffected by gradually narrowing the width of the pass. I have found thatit is practically impossible to form perfect balls free from creases andother flaws by this method. Accordingly I have devised a method by whichthe metal progresses continuously through grooved channels of varyingshapes in which the metal is subjected to a kneading action which causesthe metal to more readily flow into the deeper parts of the grooves andprevents the formation of internal flaws, producing a compacthomogeneous mass. During the first stage of the process the bar isgradually sheared along its len' h into billets, the metal being causedto ow toward the ball centers while the bar is rotated upon its axis.When the bar is nearly severed the ball elements pass into grooves whichare slightly flattened so that the stock may take a spiralmovementsuflicient to break the connecting necks after which theseparate ball elements are operated upon by the flattened groove in amanner to forge out the central peripheral ring left between the metalwhich has moved up into the groove from opposite ends. At this stage thebillet or ball element has been shaped to form a double cone with theirbases together. From this point the elements are subjected to the actionof round grooves which shape them into true spherical form. y

The object of my invention, therefore, is to provide a method of formingspherical balls free from flaws by subjecting the stock to forminggrooves having a spiral path and varying in shape from one portion ofthe groove to another portion.

In the following description of an apparatus for carrying out thismethod I shall 1924. Serial No. 712,859.

refer to the accompanying drawings, in

of my invention; Fig. 2 is an endjelevation of thesame; Fig. 3 is acentral vertical longitudinal sectional view of the same; Fig. 4 is afragmentary sectional view showing the arrangement of the guides fordirecting the stock between the rolls; Figs. 5, 6 andthe finishedproduct. lVhen the balls are 7 are diagrammatic views showing the shapesof the passes at various stages through the machine; and Fig. 8"is atransverse sectional view showing the manner of applying this inventionto a plurality of is necessary that the metal bar should be.

sheared progressively by the ribs of the rolls, which cut deeper anddeeper until the bar is nearly severed into billets to form the ballelements. I have found that the cutting or shearing action takes placemore efliciently when the ribs 20 are sharp and V-shape as shown in Fig.5. I flatten the inner part of the wall of the grooves, as at 21, forthe purpose of extertmg a pressure upon the metal as it flows into thegroove from the ends to prevent any tend-v fgrooved rolls operatingsimultaneously upon ency to spin a cavity in the center of the billet.The shape of the V-shaped shearing ribs togther with the fact that thebillets are still conriected by narrow necks causes .them to rotate onthe axis of the bar and the spiral grooves exert a kneading action uponopposite sides, indicated by the shaded edges, and this assists incausing the-metal to How toward the center of the billet.

I have indicated in Fig. 3 the action of the rolls on the stock as itprogresses through the machine. By the time it has moved from onequarter to one third of the distance through the machine, the billets orball eleis changed and slightly flattened. The shape of the groove shownin Fig. 5 then merges into the shape shown in Fig. 6. The billets beingnow independent of each other, partake of a spiral movement and rotateon the.

axis (z-a. I have indicated in dotted lines the shape and positionassumed by the billet at this point of the spiral pass, and in brokenlines the shape at the previous point.

By the time the billets reach the central point in the machine, thegroove or ring has been eliminated and they then enter the round groovesforming the latter half of the spiral path. T he width of the pass isgradually narrowed until it is the diameter of the finished ball. Eachball partakes of a spiral movement, its axis rotating about an orbitindicated at c--c in Fig. 7. As the ball elements traverse thisfinishing portion of the pass they are rolled into perfect spheres.

The grooved shells are fitted over and keyed to solidcores 25. Theshells may be made in sections having respectively V-shape and roundgrooves and to facilitate machining. As indicated in Fig. 2, the rollsare geared to rotate at the same speed. The bearings. of course, aremovable so that proper adjustment can be made for the. size of the passand also to compensate for the wear of the grooves.

In prior machines employing spirally grooved rolls, each roll is formedwith a single continuous spiral groove, while in my machine I providethe rolls with a plurality of spiral grooves. Thus in a machine havingrolls 26 inches in diameter, and with a lead angle of about 30 degreesin the spiral,

there are 22 grooves. Hence there are 22 diil'erent channels, which passthe inlet bushing 27 through which the rod is fed during each revolutionof the drum into any one of which the rod may be inserted. This ofcourse greatly increases the life of the roll and furthermore enables meto combine a number of such rolls-in a machine, as indicated in Figure8, so that a plurality of rods may be operated upon simultaneously.

I claim 1. The method of forging balls. which consists in axiallyrolling a heated metal bar and grooving it progressively from one end,into a connected series of elements of cylindrical fru'stroeconicalconfiguration, subjecting the metal to a kneading action andsimultaneously causing the displaced metal to flow oppositely from thegrooves, severing the metal at the grooves into separate elements,subjecting the elements to a spiral rolling motion and simultaneouslycompacting and shaping them into true spherical bodies.

2. A machine for forming balls from a rod or bar, comprising a pair ofoppositely rotatable rolls having cooperating spiral grooves, saidgrooves being substantially V-shape at the feed end of the machine andmerging into substantially semi-circular grooves at the finishing end ofthe machine.

3. A machine for forming balls from a rod or bar, comprising a pair ofcooperating spirally grooved rolls. the grooves in one section beingprovided with angularly arranged walls varying in cross-sectional configuration in diiierent parts thereof, and in another section thegrooves being substantially semi-circular in cross-section, the ribsseparating adjacent grooves being adapted to cut successively deeperinto the rod or bar.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

ABEEL CANDA.

